Resurrection Marches in Detroit Against Welfare Cuts

For seven weeks, we have marched in "Resurrection Marches" to call attention to the 40,000 welfare families that will be cut-off cash assistance Oct. 1, 2011. We have been in front of the Capital Plaza Bldg in Detroit at Governor Snyder's office. 

 9/29/11 Resurrection March speakers included: MWRO State Chair Maureen Taylor, NWRU Co-President Marian Kramer, U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Ed Rowe & State Representative Alberta Tinsli-Talabi.

We recognize how unconscionable it is for a State government to even suggest that the cost is TOO high to shelter poor people. Today’s demonstration confirmed that people are totally offended by this Draconian action!

Working people in Michigan and, especially, the militant union workers in Detroit and Highland Park are under a full court press as our standard of living and now even our lives are under attack.

How bad is it? 

• Seniors are receiving letters telling them that if they ever had any assistance from the Welfare Dept., their life insurance policies should be turned over to them as they believe themselves to be the real holders of that policy.
• All Social Security numbers in families that are being cutoff of assistance are being sent to Lansing so the State Police can cross-match those numbers and determine if anyone has an outstanding warrant.
• The Food Assistance program will be reviewed by case workers performing the food asset test -– they will be looking for those nice items in your home that can be sold if you are going to continue receiving food assistance.

The only conclusion left is that “THESE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO KILL YOU!!” 

WORKING PEOPLE –- wake up!  The world has changed and these corporations don’t need us anymore! If we are not needed, why feed us?  Why house us?  Why educate us? Why provide medical support for us? Because the world has changed and continues to throw off millions of laborers out into the streets each day, we MUST envision what kind of world we have to have. We will design the change, or they will.

We march to Washington, D.C., June 30^th, 2012.  get involved and find your place as we amass millions toward the fight to eliminate poverty.  Reach us at: endpoverty2012@gmail.com or call us at: (313) 964-0618.  You have 278 days left.

Image from MWRO member Fred Vitale. See more Resurrection March photos.

Reverend Pinkney Speaks of Negative Impact of Governmental Emergency Financial Managers (EFM)

MWRO Friends and Members:

Russ Bellant is looking for volunteers to help collect signatures for the critical petition drive against Public Act 4.
The petition drive campaign to create a referendum on Public Act 4 ( the Emergency Manager/Dictator law) is growing and has a need for volunteers to check signature validity and input the data.

Please reply and let me know whether you can join us for any two hour period of time (or longer) this Wednesday from 4pm to 9 pm or on Saturday during the day for a focused effort to get this work done. This will allow an accurate count of valid signatures. Please remember that once the valid number is certified, the law is suspended. We need volunteers to reach that status.

Volunteers can also work Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.

If you are available, please contact him at russbellant@yahoocom

Thank you!

and Rachel Maddow blasts the EMF for repealing "Constitution Week" (Michael Moore)

Sacrificing Children to Enrich Corporations and Politicians

Our good friends at the Sierra Club in Detroit have been following up on the public assistance cuts to families signed by Michigan Governor Snyder and have learned several more distressing facts:

1. As of October 1, 2011: 11,000 people will be cut off from welfare benefits, and that will continue through until 40,000 people are eliminated from the system. 75% THOSE PEOPLE WILL BE CHILDREN WITH THE AVERAGE AGE OF 7 YEARS OLD.
2. Unemployment insurance was cut from a 24 weeks to 20 by the state.
3. The Low Income Energy Efficiency Fund which gave DHS, THAW and Salvation Army energy assistance funding every year -- adding to $575million in help for the poor since 2002 -- has been completely eliminated by ABATE and the Attorney General and the Michigan Court of Appeals; although federal money is still available, it is not enough to cover the gap.
4. College students are no longer eligible for food aid, a much needed subsidy.
5. There is now a lifelong cap of 48 months for those who receive assistance.
6. Most of the assistance cuts will be to renters, disproportionately effecting women.
7. These cuts have a secondary effect of increasing domestic violence.
8. If utility service is cut from the home, children must be removed by law from the family and home. And, yes, the foster care system is hiring.
9. NO ONE IS EXEMPT: Persons with mental disabilities are not exempt from the cuts, recent mothers are exempt for only 2 months after birth, victims of domestic violence exempt for 3 months and caretakers of persons with disabilities for 12 months.
10. THE STATE OF MICHIGAN WILL SAVE $68 MILLION IN TAX DOLLARS FROM STARVING CHILDREN. 

MEANWHILE, corporations will receive $1.8 billion in tax breaks to ensure major profits keep flowing in -- while putting an end to Michigan’s practice of not taxing retirement income and seeking to increase taxes on Michigan's working poor! (download pdf)

"Currently, someone in the poorest 20 percent of Michigan taxpayers pays a tax rate of 8.9 percent, while someone in the richest one percent pays 5.3 percent. In addition to trying to make an unfair tax system even more problematic for Michigan’s low-income residents, Snyder has also asked that the state be given the power to dismiss local government and appoint emergency 'town managers' who could break contracts and 'strip powers from elected officials.'"

When we can no longer count on government to stand up for the weakest and sickest among us, we must determine --at all costs -- how to ensure that our children, elders and the infirmed are protected. What are you prepared to do?

Sources: Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, NAACP-Detroit, Wayne County Social Services, Coalition to Keep Michigan Warm, and Michigan League of Human Services.

Children's Press Conference Postponed till Sep 15

The MWRO Press Conference, Don't Throw 25,000 Children Off Welfare and Into the Streets, scheduled for Thursday, September 8 has been POSTPONED until Thursday, September 15 at Noon. It will still be held at Cadillac Place, 3044 W. Grand Blvd (between Cass and Second).

Several community organizations and elected officials have contacted us to appear. Please join us!

What Have Poor People Done to Deserve Such Hatred?

The foundation on which society rests has been permanently altered. The question is this: What Have Poor People Done To Deserve Such Hatred?

The State House of Michigan has passed House Bill #4409 to separate welfare families from cash assistance if they have reached their lifetime cap of 48 months, retroactively. In the worst job market, the worst housing market, the worst spike in violence in decades, and the worst spike up in suicides as well, is this the time to kick poor people off? They will no longer be able to pay for rent, mortgages, lights, gas and water.

Yesterday, yet another dagger was pushed into the frail bodies of these low income families, also supported by a gang of demonic public officials. As these families are identified as no longer eligible for cash, their Social Security numbers will be sent to the State Police so they can cross-checked with existing open warrants.

If a family member has an outstanding warrant for jay walking, child support, a moving traffic violation that has not been addressed, they can expect to found and arrested and held until that court matter is settled. That person's component of the family Food Stamps will be removed and will not be retroactively restored when and if the court case is settled.

As the foundation of society is crumbling, workers must work harder to understand these new dynamics that will forever more control our lives. There is no middle class -- the middle of what? There is one working class, some earn this much while others earn that much and some earn no money at all, but we are all still one class.

Technology that used to enhance labor now replaces it. Think about the U.S. Post Office, self-check out counters at grocery stores, ATM cards that replaced our visits with tellers inside banks, etc. Think of the new "zip rental car" that has streamlined the process of renting cars without agents to manage that task. Enterprise, Avis, Hertz, Dollar employees and the rest will soon feel the sting of
mass layoffs as soon as these mega-agencies perfect this procedure and install this newest technology in place of human beings.

People-workers have to envision what kind of new world we want to see, who it should care for, how it should care for us, and make certain that we put steps in place to "make it so." The needs of the many must always outweigh the needs of the few!

The June 30th, 2012, March To Washington will underscore that theme: One Class,
One Cause! We are organizing across the country for this mega-event that will be the beginning of eliminating poverty. You only have 298 days left to get involved. Do something today!! http://www.end-poverty.org/ Email: endpoverty2012@gmail.com, or call: (313) 964-0618.

Image screen shot from Media Voices for Children